Laws in Elizabethan England
There were many strict laws in Elizabethan England. People liked to have order. Queen Elizabeth passed many laws to keep everything in its place. For example, she banned begging and unemployment. This helped Great Britain's economy become more profitable and it helped many people find work, however it ended a way of life for self employed workers, such as traveling merchants, entertainers, tinkers and healers ("Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England").
Some examples of important laws from Elizabethan England:
Some examples of important laws from Elizabethan England:
- Torture was not allowed without the Queen's authorization. It was only allowed while questioning a suspect and it had to be in the presence of an official who would record their confession ("Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England"). However, crime was also a popular and perfectly legal and acceptable form of punishment for serious crimes.
- Begging/unemployment was against the law. It was illegal to live in Great Britain without an employer.
- You had to obey the rules of the church and be legally part of the Church of England.
- Thievery was against the law--> It was illegal to steal anything from a fellow citizen- there would be serious punishments.
- "Thieves that were saved by their books and clergy, for the first offense if they have stolen anything else but oxen, sheep, money, or such like, which be no open robberies, as by the highway side, or assailing of any man's house in the night, without putting him in fear of his life, or breaking up his walls or doors, are burned, in the left hand, upon the brawn of the thumb, with a hot iron, so that, if they be apprehended again, that mark betrayeth them to have been arranged of felony before, whereby they are sure at that time to have no mercy" ("Torture in the Tower of London, 1597")
The Ten Articles: In 1536, King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth's father, passed 10 Articles of Faith describing the beliefs and practices of the Church of England. This served as a basis for laws to be obeyed by the people of England in the religious sense. To go against these tenants was to go against the country, and therefore punishable by death (Pendleton).